HISHE: The Battle of Red Mountain
by GalacticHalfling
Summary: What if Voryn would have insisted a bit more on his suggestion to destroy the Tools? (A semi-serious AU)


Nerevar, bleeding from several wounds, stands over Dumac's dead body, and stares with a dazed look at the form of the friend he just killed, the blood dripping blade still in hand.

The Heart chamber is strewn with broken animunculi. Some Dwemer guards lie among them, dead or wounded, while others have hidden behind a make-shift barricade in one corner of the room but seem to have run out of crossbow bolts.

Kagrenac sees how Voryn dispatches of two of the remaining guards easily before turning towards the High Engineer, deadly magic glowing at his fingertips.

"Your superstition will fail when we transcend the finite and become divine!" Kagrenac declares – the pride and drama of the declaration marred by a note of panic and the rather hasty delivery of the speech.

Just as Voryn casts his spell the Tonal Architect strikes the Heart.

There is a loud gong-like sound, and a blinding light flashes through the room. A moment of utter chaos and disorientation follows. A moment, in which even the relations of time and space themselves seem uncertain.

###

When all sensual input returns to normal everything and everyone in the room have been flung around as if by an explosion.

With a clatter Kagrenac's Tools as well as several other pieces of armor and weaponry fall to the ground, with the Dwemer who have been wielding them simply vanished.

Voryn picks himself up from the floor and looks around. "My lord?" he calls out. "Nerevar?"

"I'm here," Nerevar answers, getting up from under a pile of rubble. "What just happened? Where is everyone?"

"Kagrenac tried to finish his ritual. My guess is… it didn't go as planned."

"You think he made his people _vanish_? But… he claimed his ritual would affect _all_ Dwemer…"

"The fool was meddling with _the power of a god_."

For a moment they fall into an uneasy silence.

Voryn walks over to the Tools eying them warily. Finally he picks them up with telekinesis and brings them to Nerevar. "It seems that Kagrenac destroyed his own people with these things. We should destroy them at once, so that they might never be used for evil again."

"For all their danger I think that would be a hasty decision. They should never have been wrought, but now that they exist… do we know what power we might unleash in destroying them? Or what mischief Kagrenac might have achieved through their use that can't be undone once they're gone? Nay, more minds should think on such a grave decision. I will ask my Tribunal what we shall do with them, for they have had wisdom in the past that I did not."

"I beg your pardon, my lord, but I disagree. These Tools," Voryn points emphatically at them, "have just been used to _wipe out_ an entire race – how can there be even a sliver of a doubt that they should be destroyed right away?! And didn't even Azura herself tell you to bring an end to Kagrenac's vile plans? Please, reconsider this choice. No matter what mishap might follow their destruction, it can't be greater than their potential for evil and corruption while they yet exist."

Nerevar blinks as if startled by the speech. Then he takes a step back from the Tools, suddenly giving them a much more wary look. "Put like that I see the sense of your point. I don't even know what strange notion took hold of me to consider doing otherwise," he sounds troubled by the latter admission. "I thank you, for speaking your mind, my loyal friend. How do you suggest we go about unmaking them?"

Voryn lets his gaze wander through the room. He points towards the lava filled chasm in the middle of the chamber. "There is little that has more destructive powers than Red Mountain itself. I hope throwing the Tools into its fires will be sufficient."

"Do it!"

Voryn flicks his fingers and the Tools start floating towards the fiery chasm. But then he stops the movement, a sudden look of doubt creeping over his face, a reluctance that is altogether at odds with his previous vehement insistences.

"Throw them in, now! That's an order!" Nerevar says sharply.

Voryn closes his eyes and appears to gather all his concentration and self-control. Then he flings the Tools over the edge of the lava pool. They fly in a wide arc through the air before they breech the lava surface with an unceremonious 'splash'.

Voryn and Nerevar both look over the edge, watching the Tools sink.

For a few moments nothing happens. The two mer are just about to turn away when suddenly the lava starts boiling and a tremor shakes the ground, accompanied by a deep groaning sound from deep within the mountain.

Nerevar and Voryn exchange alarmed looks.

More earth tremors follow, growing stronger. The lava starts shooting up in hissing fountains. Parts of the ceiling come lose and start dropping.

At once the two mer turn to run. Nerevar – apparently more affected by his wounds than he tries to let on – stumbles, but Voryn catches him and slings one of his arms over his shoulders. They leave the room in a hurry.

###

Voryn and Nerevar stumble out of the Dwemer citadel just in time before the entire complex collapses onto itself behind them.

They remain standing for a moment, catching their breaths and taking in their surroundings.

Steam and strangely colored clouds of smoke permeate the air. Lava is shooting high into the sky from the crater, and before their eyes more and more cracks are opening up in the ground. Wherever they look streams of molten rock are blocking all exit routes.

"Did… _I_ do that?" Voryn asks in a mix of awe and horror.

Nerevar who is leaning heavily on Voryn's shoulder, his wounds bleeding more profusely than before, gazes from the lava everywhere up to the smoke-covered sky, and says, sounding half delirious: "Maybe we'll be rescued by giant eagles."

Voryn gives him a concerned look. "Did you take a blow to the head?" Without waiting for a response he moves a hand in the gesture of Recall.

###

The next moment the two of them stand in the middle of the Chimer war camp. Everywhere people are running around in badly concealed panic, trying to arrange a somewhat organized decampment. But it is obvious that in the face of the sudden volcanic eruption quite a few soldiers are very close to losing their heads.

Voryn shouts at the next best person to get a healer and tell the tribunes that Nerevar has returned. The soldier scurries off to do as asked.

After a short time she comes back with a healer in tow who gives Nerevar a once over before starting to cast spells on him. They are joined quickly by Vivec; despite his usual flippancy for once he actually seems stressed by the situation. He points emphatically towards the ash and lava spewing mountain, "Clearly your fight with Kagrenac and Red Mountain's sudden wrath are interrelated. What. Happened?!"

Nerevar and Voryn look at each other. Finally Nerevar answers resolutely: "Kagrenac meddled with powers not meant for mortals. That's all that needs to be known."

* * *

 **Notes: As always, constructive critism and pointers on language are welcome.**


End file.
